Oligarchs circle wagons to save Paul Ryan and TPP

First published in Blasting News

Paul Ryan, who has waged war on retirees, school children and veterans is “polling” at 80% in oligarch owned Washington Post.

Paul Ryan the billionaires’ advocate in Washington is facing a challenger in his bid for reelection in Tuesday’s rigged Wisconsin primary.  The 1^st district congressman and Speaker of the House is a member of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Koch Brother’s bill mill.  Ryan has advanced some of ALEC’s most egregious agenda items like lax banking laws, privatization of public utilities and cuts to veterans’ benefits, food stamps, social security and Medicare.  Ryan has been pivotal in the destruction of public education and the proliferation of privately owned charter schools.

 Taxpayer funded Charter school benefit foreigners through H1B visas

Charter schools are publicly funded privately operated and provide wealthy foreigners taxpayer funds to promote ideological causes.  The owner of the largest chain of U.S. charter schools is Fathulla Gülen, the Turkish Imam and CIA asset who has been granted asylum in the US after facing terrorism charges in Turkey.  Gülen has funded over 200 trips to Turkey for lawmakers and their staff and is the largest recipient of H1B visas to bring teachers from Turkey to teach in America’s taxpayer funded charters. 

Congress and their staff receive lavish trips for their service

Lawmakers have received lavish privately-funded trips in addition to their taxpayer funded salaries and bennies.  Roll Call reported on some of the hidden sources that pay for the trips, that weren’t vetted by the House Ethics Committee.  One recipient of an all-expenses-paid jaunt to five-star hotels was Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.  Clarke accepted an $8,700 nine-day trip paid for by the Council of Turkic American Associations.  In 2013 she stayed at Istanbul’s Crowne Plaza & Hagia Sophia and the Rixos Grand Ankara.

The same nonprofit paid for Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., to travel to Turkey where he stayed at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski billed as “a former palace converted into a luxury hotel with suites that promise the exclusive ambiance once enjoyed by the majestic Sultans of the Ottoman Empire."  Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., and her fiancé accepted a package paid for by the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians that included $1,500 for meals and taxis.  The TCAE has refused to cooperate with ethics investigators.

Paul Ryan’s campaign and trips funded special interests

Paul Ryan has received 17 domestic and foreign privately-financed trips.  Much like Fathulla Gülen, Ryan lives in a gated, heavily guarded compound in Janesville, Wisconsin where he enjoys a pampered taxpayer funded life of a royal.  His opponent Paul Nehlen once a staunch Ryan supporter is running against Ryan’s cronyism and corruption. Eighty percent of Ryan’s campaign funding comes from outside his district mainly from DC and Virginia.

 Phony Washington Post poll puts Ryan ahead 80% to 20%

The oligarchs have invested too much in Paul Ryan to allow him to be defeated in Wisconsin’s primary.  An ABC-Washington Post poll was cited Sunday showing Donald Trump trailing Hillary Clinton by 8 points.  What they don’t tell you is that the poll is skewed and includes third party candidates to give Clinton the bump.  The Post’s poll also showed Ryan leading Nehlen in the race 80% to 20%, a margin a tin pot dictator would die for.  The oligarchs are circling the wagons and will stop at nothing to ensure a Ryan victory, but will the voters buy it?  We’ll see Tuesday.

By Patricia Baeten